


I Skip A Heartbeat

by StrikeMeDown



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: F/M, Fantasizing, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:09:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24406339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrikeMeDown/pseuds/StrikeMeDown
Summary: Quick one shot. Cormoran hears a song whilst watching Robin dancing that perfectly expresses how he feels for her.
Relationships: Ilsa Herbert/Nick Herbert, Nick Herbert & Cormoran Strike, Robin Ellacott & Cormoran Strike, Robin Ellacott & Ilsa Herbert, Robin Ellacott/Cormoran Strike
Comments: 6
Kudos: 46





	I Skip A Heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so my guilty pleasure band is Scouting for Girls, I know I know, but in lockdown there has been a lot of wine consumed and pretty much all of their songs are perfect to dance around to when you’re a little tipsy. Anyway Heartbeat is my favourite song of all time and when I was jumping around to it, it took me back to when I was a heartbroken 17 year old and doing a lot of pining myself, and I realised it describes how Cormoran feels for Robin quite well. So I wrote a little oneshot involving the lyrics. Oh and just trust me put the song on when you’ve had a couple, it’s fun. Stay safe everyone.

_ “ Am I alone in your heart?  
_ _ Have I hope with your heart?   
_ _ She's such a teaser, she's such a star.  
_ _ Give me a reason or gimme a chance....” _

Cormoran watched as she swayed drunkenly and bounced around the dance floor, holding Isla’s hands up in the air, smiling widely and swinging her head to the beat. The lyrics rolling around in his mind; have I hope with your heart? Probably not, he contemplated. 

_ “Doing all I can do, just to be close to you.” _

Like coming to this bloody karaoke bar he thought, but even though it was as far from his sort of scene that he could get, the sight of her smiling so brightly made him feel as though he couldn’t quite catch his breath. 

_“Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.  
Always up for a laugh, she's a pain in the arse.”_

He thought about the laughs on the road trips they took, the inside jokes they had about clients, the tipsy fun they had each Friday in the Tottenham. He thought about the ways in which she had screwed him up for good; the way he could never imagine wanting another woman because no one could ever match up to her, how he had finally given up his cigarettes for her even though he desperately craved them, he thought about the profound pain he had felt when he fired her, when she got married and when she started dating again. She definitely was a pain in the arse; one that was always right and challenged him and caused him trouble, and one that made him fall in love with her so deeply that it physically hurt.

“She’s a pain in the arrrsee” Robin warbled with Isla as she laughed heartily, her head tipped back. The sight of the smooth skin of her neck made Cormoran shiver as he fantasised about pressing his lips against it.

_“Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.  
Give me an evening, or give me a night.  
I'll show you the time, of your life.”_

Cormoran imagined having just one chance to show her how good they could be together; stumbling over the threshold to his flat with her, dropping his keys as he tripped, laughing, both in their merrily, tipsy state. He would turn to her and place his palm on her cheek as her eyes fluttered shut at his touch, the room silent as he brought his lips to hers in a gentle kiss that would become more and more intense. He would drag her leg up and hook it around his waist as she would start unbuttoning his shirt. He would tease her; slowly kissing his way down her neck and along her collarbone, breathing hot air onto her unblemished skin, making her shudder with anticipation. Clothes would fly in all directions as the room would get hotter and breathless moans and the sound of Cormoran’s name being called over and over would fill the air...

“You alright Oggy?” Nick’s voice broke Strike out of the fantasy he had been running through in his mind. “You look a bit preoccupied, I’m pretty sure you haven’t heard a word I’ve been saying.”

Nick followed Cormoran’s line of sight until he realised who he had been staring at.

“Oh right well I’m guessing it’s not Ilsa you’ve fallen for after all these years so I think I can work out why you look so miserable”

Strike shook his head, not realising he was making it so obvious. “Dunno what you’re on about mate.”

“Yeah, yeah course,” Nick rolled his eyes, ignoring his denial. “If you ask me she loves you as much as you love her, you need to go for it, for the sake of all our sanity.”

Strike said nothing but turned back to stare at his other best friend dancing with the woman that, despite his denial, he was undoubtably in love with. 

_“I'll walk you home safe, from the dark.  
I'll give you my jacket, I'll give you my heart.”_

Memories flashed through Strike’s mind; of him giving her his jacket at the Roper Chard rooftop party, of him going out of his way to walk her back to the tube or insisting she stay at his, in his bed, whilst he slept on the chair after one too many at the Tottenham. He knew he would do anything in the world, including sacrificing his own comfort, his own security, his own life, to keep her happy, because she already had his heart. 

_“Every time that we meet, I skip a heartbeat.  
I skip a heartbeat for you...”_

Robin, sensing his eyes on her, turned her head and smiled brightly at him. She held the eye contact a little too long; she could never resist when she was slightly tipsy. The smile she was reserving just for him these days curled into a sly grin. The crinkles at the side of his eyes, the crooked smile and the rugged stubble made Cormoran the most irresistible man she had ever laid eyes on. Robin held her arm out and beckoned for him to join her and Isla. Suddenly she needed him closer to her.

She giggled as he shook his head but still pushed himself up with a groan and a roll of the eyes. Making his way over towards her, he took her outstretched hand in his, bending down to whisper in her ear.

“I’m only up here because I’ve had one too many and I don’t know if you know this but I’ve only got one leg so dancing isn’t exactly my forte” he murmured with a raise of his eyebrow that made her whole body quiver.

Desperately trying to gather her drunken thoughts and not melt into a puddle on the floor, Robin narrowed her eyes and gave him a cheeky smile. Her mouth was moving quicker than her drink-addled brain but she figured that she could just blame it on the extra bottle of Prosecco in the morning if this didn’t go to plan, she’d had enough of waiting around for him.

“Well you look bloody gorgeous tonight so who cares if you can dance Cormoran.”

Strike didn’t move at first as his brain tried to process her words, his eyes stared straight into hers, his brow slightly furrowed. She chuckled at the look on his face and pulled him closer, still dancing to the quick song. He let himself be pulled along with her, his feet beginning to move along to the beat, although his mind was thinking of anything but dancing, still a little surprised at her last remark. Robin continued to swing her hips steadily to the beat, occasionally glancing up to smile at Strike and nudge him with her shoulder as song after song blared through the bar. Cormoran kept on dancing, his eyes continuously flitting back to Robins’ with a few furtive glances shared between the two of them.

Maybe he did have a hope with her heart.  



End file.
